You Don't Know What You Got Until It's Almost Gone
by Rowen Hashiba Of Tenku Co
Summary: Narrated By Alexandra Koriyana, It Stars Sage, Rowen, and Alexandra.


You Don't Know What You've Got Until It's (almost) Gone  
By Alexandra "Alex" "Cesya" "Alexi" Koriyana  
  
  
  
  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
I don't know how it happened, really. One minute he was standing there, laughing with us, then he was down. I'd never seen something like it before. Seiji was by his side in an instant.  
So was I. He was one of my two best friends. Him and Seiji. And he had just up and gone like that.  
I wanted it to end, for me to wake up from this nightmare that was real.  
When the ambulance got there, Seiji and I went in Nasuti's jeep to the hospital so that we could be there with him. I just kept telling myself that this wasn't real.  
How had it happened? How COULD it have happened?  
He's the Warrior of Life. He cannot die.  
At least, that's what I tried to convince myself.  
To this day, I still see that terrible sadness in Seiji's eyes every time I look at him. The whole thing took it's tole on him. He's never been the same since then. None of us has. I remember how, in the jeep, I looked over at him, and I saw tears on his face. That was the first time I had ever seen Seiji cry. Unfortunately, it was not the last.  
I think we all learned something that day. Nothing is invincible, no? But we believed it. We wanted so badly to believe that nothing could stop us, not ever. Especially not Touma.  
I remember how Ryo and the others had taken the van to the hospital when Seiji and I took the jeep.  
This whole nightmare, it was all real. The silence in the jeep was so complete, so final.  
I was crying. Seiji looked over at me and looked surprised. I could get hurt, bad things could happen, but none of the other Ronins had ever seen me cry.  
He told me it'd be okay, and I tried to believe him.  
I guess you never realize how special someone is to you until you come close to losing them.  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
I looked down at Touma, his eyes closed and mouth set, and I wished to whatever God is up there that this was just a dream. It was too real. Too real...  
I cried hard, and Seiji held me for only a moment before letting go and smiling sadly at me, trying not to look like he had been crying.  
"It will be okay, Cesya. You'll see." He told me, but I knew that he was lying. He only called me Cesya when things were bad. Usually he called me Alex or Alexi. Today he called me Cesya.  
I remember that only five minutes later the others came in, Cye and Kento and Ryo and Nasuti.  
Ryo asked me why we had run off like that. I was crying hard, and Seiji answered for me.  
Seiji held me for a few moments, until I had calmed down.  
Already the doctors said that he probably won't make it. Nobody knows, even now, what caused it, although we think it may have something to do with being a Ronin or something. We can't tell. We only pray that it never happens again, now.  
But Seiji persisted. He insisted that Touma would live. He wanted so badly for it to be true that he had forced himself to believe it.  
Seiji and Touma and me were all such good friends. We hid nothing from each other.  
Touma didn't have much of a family. Actually, his parents never even came to see him, even though they must have been notified. We, meaning the Ronins, were his family. We were all that he had. We were obligated to stay with him.  
But we would have anyway.  
I tried to smile, tried to believe Seiji when he said that Touma would pull through. But I could not.  
Shu didn't even say a word about food, and Shin was very supportive. Ryo just looked around, trying his hardest not to cry.  
No one spoke. It just seemed almost too serious for speech to comprehend.  
I don't know how many hours passed before Touma woke up.  
I was sitting in a seat in the room next to Seiji, who had fallen silently asleep, the stress of the situation too much for him. It was too much for me, too.  
Touma opened his eyes and looked around a bit, weakly.  
"What's going on?" He asked, looking at me, and then at Seiji, who had woken up and was smiling tiredly at his friend.  
"Touma. You're awake." I said, walking over to him, along with Seiji.  
"What happened?" Touma asked again, awakening the other Ronins, who were all just happy to see Touma awake.  
"We aren't sure. You almost..." I was reluctant to say the word 'died', thinking it a jinx.  
"At least you're back now!" Shu commented, smiling.  
"I knew you would pull through, " Ryo said, "We wouldn't be the Ronin Warriors without you!"  
"He's right. You're part of the team. We knew you wouldn't give up." Shin told him.  
"Thanks, you guys." Touma said to us, but looked at Seiji.  
"I never gave up hope..." Seiji said quietly.  
"I guess bein' around Alexi here rubbed off on you?" Shu asked.  
"One is enough!" Shin replied.  
"Thanks, Seiji. It's good to know." Touma said. I smiled devilshly at Shin.  
"One is enough, is it?" I asked, my trademark mischievous smile on my face.  
"Eep!" Shin hid behind Shu, laughing. I laughed, and turned back to the others.  
"I'll be okay, you guys. I just need some sleep.." Touma said, and, without further adeiu, fell fast asleep.  
"He'll be here for two weeks at this rate." Ryo commented.  
Seiji smiled.  
"At least he's going to be okay." He said.  
"Thank God, if he's out there." I replied, my grin disappearing.  
"And all the angels." Shin added.  
"Amen." Seiji finished.  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
I guess the lesson we learned was to cherish our freindships more.  
We almost lost Touma, and it strengthened us some.  
We are all better friends now (I even get along a little bit with Kento) and we've changed a lot.  
I try to be less tempermental around my friends, Seiji is a bit more open around us, Shu is trying to be a little less (what's that word?) hungry, Shin is still Shin, and Touma..... Well, Touma hasn't changed one bit! Except that he is a little more careful about what he says around Shin... So as not to hurt the guy's feelings, right?  
I guess that song rings true, "You Don't Know What You've Got 'Till It's Gone", or in our case, until it's almost gone.  
We've all grown a lot closer, but we all wish that that hadn't been the way we had to do so.  
I still have trouble believing it all happened, but I only need to look Seiji in the eye to know that it was. He still carries with him the sorrow of that day, the utter hopelessness that the doctor's gave us as a way of saying that they couldn't do anything, and the despair we all felt.  
He took it the hardest that day, and it shows.  
Touma is still one of my closest friends, along with Seiji.  
But, like I said before, sometimes you don't realize how special someone is until you come close to losing them.  
  
Alexandra "Alex" "Cesya" "Alexi" Koriyana  
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